And how Steemit could potentially help with that
Did you ever walk down the street and suddenly felt the need to give something to the homeless sitting there?
Generously tipped after you felt the waiter/waitress had a bad day? Held the door open for someone? Helped an elderly person in public? Or maybe at home.
There are so many opportunities where we can help each other. Make the world a better place.
But more often than not a lot of people choose not to do so.
Only sometimes when we feel the need to help. I hope everybody at least feels the need sometimes.
But that’s why they are called “random” acts of kindness.
Wouldn’t it be much better if they weren’t random?
Bring in a little consistency into performing acts of kindness and walk around with open eyes. Checking for people who could use your help.
Recently I came across an article where a girl described her birthday celebration. She didn’t make it about her though. She turned 18 and gathered a group of friends to help her. They didn’t get drunk or wasted their time otherwise.
They set out to perform 18 acts of kindness that night.
There are also charities that let you set up a birthday campaign. Meaning, on your birthday you don’t wish for gifts but encourage people to donate some to that charity. One example is Charity Water
Now, do I want everybody to go out there and become the next Robin Hood.
Would be awesome. Not what I want to get at though.
My point is that acts of kindness shouldn’t be random.
How would you do that?
“To do a good deed every day.” This could be one the principles to start with.
If you commit to this, you eliminate the risk of only performing something helpful when you “feel like it”.
I further thought about how one could implement a gamification system into this. People love gamification. Using this method for the greater good sounds reasonable at first but I couldn’t figure out how to go about it in a useful manner.
Steemit might offer a solution.
People sharing their stories of how they did something good. How it made them and the other person feel. How it benefits society. And they get rewarded for it after all.
Now, we wouldn’t want people showing off. Or money being the only reason to perform nice gestures.
That’s what happened on YouTube.
So, the question remains how one could encourage more people to perform acts of kindness out of compassion. Giving and caring feels good. There has to be a way to get this experience to a broader mass.
It probably is a mindset shift everyone has to decide for themselves.
So, if this post gets only one person to be a little more attentive and see who could need help – mission accomplished.
Don’t wait for the desire to help someone to show up. Wake up with the thought in mind “I have to do something good today.” The little things count.